


No one had said Happy Birthday to me before.

by thisisnotourlasthunt



Series: Home is where (found) family is [4]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Birthday Fluff, Child Neglect, How Do I Tag, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Mild Angst, Nathan and lola are their own warnings, Neil as Nathaniel Wesninski, give it a chance, not that much tho, unbetaed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:01:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28856259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisnotourlasthunt/pseuds/thisisnotourlasthunt
Summary: “Stop thinking,” Andrew’s voice came through Neil’s memories, his voice raspy and groggy with sleep.“I was remembering,” Neil replies.“Remembering what?”Neil turns in Andrew’s arms so that they can be face to face. Andrew’s eyes were still closed but Neil knows Andrew will not fall asleep unless he is sure Neil is okay.“Twenty six years ago, the first time we talked,”Or; In a world were you can feel when your soulmate is sad and/or speak with them by writing on your skin, Nathaniel Wesninski and Andrew Doe speak.Or; It's Nathaniel's birthday and decided to write and angsty story with fluff in the end.
Relationships: Nathaniel Wesninski & Andrew Minyard, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: Home is where (found) family is [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1991581
Comments: 4
Kudos: 82





	No one had said Happy Birthday to me before.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So I wrote this cause it's Nathaniel's birthday and I wanted to do something and well, this idea came to mind.
> 
> TW: Nathan and Lola (it's not actually bad), references to child abuse, child neglect, small implied dissociation
> 
> If I'm missing anything let me know :)
> 
> Also: Neil is in bolds and Andrew in itallics

As soon as Neil wakes up, he immediately feels rather empty. At first he doesn’t understand why he is feeling this way, nothing had happened the day before to incite this feeling and he is sure he had not had a nightmare. In fact he doesn’t even remember what he had been dreaming about, but his light breaths and steady fingers tell him it was not a nightmare.

Opening his eyes to look at the time he realizes the reason as to why he woke up feeling this way, it’s three am on January nineteenth, his biological birthday. And even though he has been Neil Josten for more than a decade, there was no year where Neil felt a constriction on his chest this day, not because he missed being Nathaniel, no, it was mostly because the reminder of what he had gone through in his years as Nathaniel had marked him and he could never forget it, no matter the many good memories he had from his new family.

As he lays staring at the clock, remembering the boy he had been before, he feels two arms pull him closer. Because of waking up in the state he had woken up, he hadn’t realized Andrew’s chest against his back and his arms wrapped around his chest, keeping him close.

Neil feels a small smile tug his lips as he remembered the first time he had talked with Andrew, twenty-six years ago on Nathaniel’s seventh birthday.  
  
_**** twenty-six years ago ****_

Nathaniel’s birthday had never been as exciting as the ones he had seen from the family that lived in front of him. The little girl that lived there would always have her friends and family over, they would play games, have cake, sometimes hit a big carton thing that threw candies when hit (piñata) and open presents. 

The girl had fun and was reminded of how much they cared for her, whereas Nathaniel’s birthdays consisted of his father being in a bad mood because the night before he had invited his work associates to a party and gotten drunk whilst Nathaniel was left acting as if he were the perfect son in their perfect family. The thing is, the party was not in honor of Nathaniel so the boy never got presents and could not eat from the cake they served as it was just for the adults. There were no other children there, once there had been a boy who looked a little older than Nathaniel himself but Nathaniel had been forbidden to talk to him or there would be consequences. His mother would give him a small smile in the morning, but other than that she didn’t care it was his birthday.

The morning of Nathaniel’s birthday would be the worst, Nathan would wake up with a hangover and therefore angry at everything and everyone, Nathaniel especially. If Nathaniel made even a single sound he would be punished and sent to his bedroom with either bruises or cuts.

That’s how the day before his seventh birthday went as well, sitting quietly whilst adults entered his home. No one noticed Nathaniel, no one cared it was his birthday in a few hours. 

“Nathaniel!” came his father’s booming voice from across the room. Startled at being addressed to, Nathaniel warily stood up from the chair he had been sitting in for the past hours and made his way to his father.

“Yes father?” Nathaniel said, trying to keep his voice steady.

“Son, I have a present for your seventh birthday,” his father calmly said as if he hadn’t ignored the fact for Nathaniel's seven years of life. “In a few hours you will be old enough to learn a few things so you will begin training with a friend of mine.”

From behind him came a tall woman with blonde hair and piercing green eyes. Her gaze roamed around Nathaniel’s small body before landing on his face and giving him a wicked toothed grin.

“Nice to meet you Nathaniel, my name is Lola and I believe you and I will have so much fun together.” Nathaniel, knowing he wasn’t supposed to talk unless he was asked a question, nodded at her.

“Now go to your mother,” Nathan ordered before lowering to whisper in Nathaniel’s ear. “And you better be quiet if you do not want to get in trouble.”

Nathaniel nodded quickly, not daring to look into his father’s eyes but rather his nose and turned back to where his mother was seated on the couch, talking to an asian woman.

The night went that way, Nathaniel sitting quietly on the couch whilst his father spoke and laughed with the guests and his mother beside him but not paying attention to him. At about midnight, the guests began leaving and once the last guest left the living room, Nathan growled at Nathaniel for still being there and sent him to his room with a threat. 

Nathaniel sat in his bed, quietly as to not wake up his parents, until late in the night. Nathaniel didn’t exactly know what time it was, but from the loud snores that came from his father across the hall, Nathaniel knew he was in a drunken state so it would be hard for him to wake up.

Seeing this as the perfect opportunity, Nathaniel quietly creeped down the stairs into the kitchen and went towards the cake that had been left out. Nathaniel hadn’t been able to eat dinner since the guests had arrived earlier than usual and his stomach had been growling in anger at this. As quietly as he could, Nathaniel took the smallest piece of cake he could cut and carefully brought it back to his room.  
  
Once back in his room, he sat on the bed and tried to remember what he had seen the little girl in front do when she had a birthday cake. Out of nowhere, he felt a pang on his chest and a tingle in his arm. He turned towards it and surprisingly, he saw lines forming in his skin, slowly creating letters and finally a single word.

 _Hello?_ _  
_ _  
_ _*_

He had heard of soulmates from the cleaning ladies that came everyday. Some people could connect to their soulmates by writing on their skin or feeling when the other felt sad. He had always wondered if he had a soulmate, but when he had asked his mother he had received a beating in return and a threat to never talk about it.

He hadn’t realized he had one until one of the cleaning ladies had stopped mopping beside where he was doing some homework his tutor had given him and placed a hand on the middle of her chest.  
  
“What’s wrong?” He had asked quietly. His parents were not home but he was still afraid that they would suddenly appear and beat him for speaking but he had been five and was curious about it.  
  
“It’s my soulmate,” she had replied.

“What’s your soulmate and what is wrong with it?” 

“It’s not a what, it’s a who. A soulmate is like a good friend that knows you better than anyone else in the whole world. Someone who will be there for you in the good and in the bad. Someone that has always trusted you even if you try not to. Some people, like me, are more connected to their soulmates and can feel when your soulmate is sad. Others can write to them by writing on their skin. But my soulmate is sad right now and I wish I could help him, but I haven’t met them face to face yet, so I can just wait to see them one day”

He had never seen that cleaning lady again, Nathaniel supposed she had found her soulmate and went home with them to live happily ever after.

After the talk with the cleaning lady, Nathaniel began noticing he could feel a little pang on his chest every once in a while. He had always believed that it was normal and that everyone had it, but after hearing that there were soulmates, he realized he had one.

*

He thought that one could only connect to their soulmate through one way, but the single word in his skin that he had not written told him he was mistaken. Nathaniel walked towards his pencil case and took one marker from it and pressed it against his skin, unsure on what to write.

 **Hi** _  
_ _  
_ There was a moment where nothing changed, no letters started forming on his skin and the pang on his chest subsided.  
  
_How do I know you are real and not my imagination?_ _  
_ _  
_ Neil thought about it, how did _he_ know this wasn’t his imagination. And if he didn’t know, how could he convince his soulmate he was real?

**Have you heard of soulmates?**

_Duh._ _  
_ _  
_ **Well, I think we are soulmates**

_Didn’t think I would have one._

**Why?** **  
** **  
** _Been alone my whole life_ _  
_ _  
_ **Me too. What’s your name?** **  
** **  
** _Andrew, yours?_ _  
_ _  
_ **I don’t like my name** _  
_ _  
_ _Why?_ **  
** **  
** **It reminds me of my father** _  
_ **_  
_ ** _Ok, I’ll change my question. When’s your birthday?_ _  
_ _  
_ **Today** **  
** **  
** _Oh, and what are you going to do?_ _  
_ _  
_ **Nothing, hope my father doesn’t beat me up.**

 _I don’t celebrate my birthday too, no one knows when exactly my birthday is._ _  
_ _  
_ **Why?** **  
** **  
** _I’m in foster care. No one knows when my birthday is exactly._

Thatś how the night went, the two children that had believed they were alone in this world and not believing they had soulmates talking and sharing secrets they had never told anyone else. When both their arms were filled with letters, they moved to their legs and once those were filled, they went and cleaned everything up and wrote on them again. There was a moment where they couldn’t figure what to talk about anymore, so they drew pictures on their skin and played together until the night began changing to daytime and therefore they could no longer talk with the other.

Begrudgingly, Neil cleaned his skin with the wet cloth he had, wanting to continue speaking with Andrew but he knew if his parents figured he was speaking with him, it would be worse for him, his father would search for Andrew and take him to their house just to turture them both.

_You okay?_

**No, I can’t speak during daytime.**

_Ok, then we won’t._

**Bye.** ****  
**  
** _Bye._

Nathaniel cleaned the last bits of their conversation when he felt another tingle in his arm, he wondered what was going on since they had already said goodbye, but as the letters formed against his skin, his smile grew.

_Happy Birthday._

The two words were written slowly and shakily, as if Andrew had hesitated as he wrote it.

**Thank you**

Nathaniel replied, it was the first time someone told him these two words and he was glad it had been his soulmate who had said it first, it felt special and it made his chest bubble. He didn’t want to erase it, but as he heard his father’s snores stop, Nathaniel quickly cleaned the words from his arms and laid on the bed, closing his eyes. 

Nathaniel heard as big and loud footsteps approached his room before his door was opened. Nathaniel kept still, trying as hard as he could not to move but as his father walked inside the room and found the dirty cloth Nathaniel had used to erase his and Andrew’s conversations, Natahniel felt himself move.

****

After that day, Nathaniel could only speak with Andrew every once in a while though never like that first night. And once he went on the run, he could no longer talk with him or Mary would beat him until most parts of his body were bruised. 

As the years passed he felt Andrew being sadder and sadder when he wrote to Neil and wouldn’t get a response until he stopped writing and then, Neil could no longer feel when Andrew was sad.

He had begun to think his father had gone for Andrew and killed him, but in his first year of college, when he realized Andrew was his soulmate and he was no longer in danger he apologized for everything for not replying for not writing. Andrew had cut him off with a kiss.

****Present****

“Stop thinking,” Andrew’s voice came through Neil’s memories, his voice raspy and groggy with sleep.

“I was remembering,” Neil replies.

“Remembering what?”

Neil turns in Andrew’s arms so that they can be face to face. Andrew’s eyes were still closed but Neil knows Andrew will not fall asleep unless he is sure Neil is okay.

“Twenty six years ago, the first time we talked,” Neil stares at the calm expression of Andrew’s face, his jaw unhinged, his cheek marked in where it was pressed against Neil’s back.

“Staring”

“I know.” 

Neil slowly reaches for Andrew’s face -it had been years since they stopped asking ‘yes or no’ unless one of them was having a bad day- so if Andrew doesn’t want it, he can easily avoid Neil’s hand, but he doesn’t. Neil smiles and gently pushes away the blond strands of hair in Andrew’s face. In return, Andrew hums and opens his eyes. They stare into each other’s eyes, gold meeting blue, for a while, just enjoying each other's presence.

“Come on, let’s go to sleep,” Andrew says as he pulls Neil closer to him, letting Neil rest his head on Andrew’s chest. Both of them peacefully falling asleep in each other’s loving arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading till the end, what was your favorite part?
> 
> Remember that this author appreciates and loves Kudos and reading comments.
> 
> Talk or scream at me, I'm (mostly) always available:  
> Tumblr: @thisisnotourlasthunt  
> Instagram: @thisisnotourlasthunt_


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